When every day is a school day, then let the teachers appear.

After leaving UK soil in March 2016, we have travelled over 50,000 miles and visited 23 countries and provinces, which has expanded both our minds and bodies, thanks to the cultural diversity we have witnessed. With experience, miles and time under our belts, we finally feel like we have amassed enough exposure to this full-time life on the road to share our insights with a degree of authenticity. 

And so we have created this brand new series Life on the Road, which encompasses our observations, lessons and experiences, to which we add a dose of wisdom. Whether you come to the RV/Motorhome/Camper life as full-timers, long-timers or newbies, we hope that this series of blogs will help inform, influence and provide food for thought. Whilst we don’t consider ourselves experts, we do have some experience to share.

That said, we are never complaisant. We have come to appreciate that every day is a school day and no matter how many months we have been travelling, knowledge sometimes comes from the hardest lessons and biggest challenges. And we’ve had plenty.

​Top Tips from the Experts

I love collective noun names like a gaggle of geese, a drove of donkeys or a school of fish. I wonder what the collective term is for a group of motorhomes or campers? Perhaps we need to make one up. One thing is for sure; there is one hell of a lot of us. Some full-time, some long-term, others are gap-year travellers. And we all bring a heap load of unique perspectives to the table. And this is our inspiration for this first in our new Life on the Road series. 

Whilst I hesitate to call anyone an expert, as it has a ring of elitism about it, it does allow us to use it as a turn of phrase for those who have gathered a basket full of experiences and knowledge. And so in this blog, we have brought together a diverse group of people who we have been privileged to meet in our time on the road, from all walks of life and from across the globe.  They have all been travelling for a period of time and generated their own personal philosophies about what travelling looks and feels like to them. We have invited 10 of them them to share their Top Tips for how they live a meaningful, safe and memorable life on the road. Check out these fabulous ideas from our Top Team of Travellers.

Karen and Myles from The Motoroamers

After 50000 miles and 23 countries, Karen and Myles have taken to full-time life in their motorhome Scoobie like ducks to water. Leaving UK in March 2016 they left behind their traditional life for a gap-year around Europe, and are still going they loved it so much. Working as they go, they write about their travel inspirations and their real life challenges and joys, bringing a genuine, entertaining and honest look at life on the road.

For inspirational, informative and entertaining blogs and videos check them out over on their website; Motoroaming, join their Facebook community or follow them on Instagram.

Don’t let fears rule your life
Our fears play such a noisy and destructive role in our lives and it is easy to be swept along with them. Through my work as a coach, I have helped others rationalise fearful thoughts and reframed my own. This is so important for planning and managing life on the road.  Whilst a degree of fear can keep you alert in real danger, more often our fears are irrational and simply False Expectations Appearing Real. So look at your fears objectively and identify how real they are. Are they just thoughts holding you back or genuine concerns based on real and tangible evidence? Once you are clear, then you can take appropriate action rather than giving into knee-jerk reactions.  For more info on help limit your fears click here.

Learn to Let Go!
Letting go has been a big part of our lives on the road. Firstly letting go of stuff in our house that I thought defined me. Letting go of the idea that there were things I must have, when in fact they were things I just wanted rather than really needed – and there is a big difference. And letting go of expectations as they only create disappointment. Life in our van is so much simpler than it was and our needs significantly less. So be ready for a new mindset that has you living a less cluttered life and one that focuses on what you need to make you happy.

Life on the Road is not a Dream Life it is Real Life
We feel so privileged to be living the life we do, although we worked hard to create it with passive income streams to support our day-to-day expenses. It was a choice to live this way and each day we are grateful. Although beneath the pretty pictures and funny videos is real life. A life that has challenges with banks, tenants, agents and tax departments. And challenges with the van; tyres blow, radiators leak, bikes get stolen and you have rows. Staying mindful that things will go wrong and this is just a different way of living –  yes one that is full of incredible moments, although still one that is framed by reality. So recognise problems just as they are – problems. Issues to be resolved together. Challenges that all have solutions and that, once implemented allows you to return to the joy travelling gives you.

Julie and Jay from Our Tour

Julie and Jason opted to leave their jobs in 2011 to travel Europe in an aged Hymer B544 motorhome called Dave. Two years later they reluctantly returned home, heads full of memories, enthused for life, the burnout of previous years a thing of the past. Implementing lessons from folks they met on the road, they ploughed their energy into getting financially-free. Only two years later they were again free, and have been enjoying life both on and off the road since. 

Feel the freedom of continental motorhome touring at our travel blog: Our Tour

Appreciate the wonderful world we live in
Travelling exposed us directly to people, places and landscapes without the over-dramatic filters applied by the media. The result was we got to see with fresh eyes, which lifted our spirits and drove us forwards in life. Our feeling is this happens to most people who choose to cut the ties with home, if only temporarily and the results are priceless

“Momento Mori, Tempus Fugit”.
Nope, they didn’t teach us Latin at  our comprehensive school in Nottingham, but we’ve come across this phrase since, and it’s a  powerful one. It means, ‘Remember death, time flies.” Seriously there are 100 reasons not to change your life, not to take that leap into the unknown. But we’ve met  a number of people loving their life out on the road, who now longer breath the air on this Earth.  And thankfully none of those 1000 reason were enough to stop them achieving their dream before they died. We  hope they’re not enough to stop you either.

Travel lessons will be many
We chose to live  and travel in a motorhome, learning a ton of lessons as we went. Like many  long-term motorhome travellers, we wrote a blog as we travelled, sharing both the good and not-so-good sides of motorhome life (the former massively  outweighing the latter). As the years passed, the blog posts became  so many, information was hard to find and  update. So  we pulled the key lessons together into a book “The Motorhome Touring  Handbook.” That book contains all the practical advice we can muster. 

Roger and Anna – Bo i Husbil

Here is their travel blog and Instagram: Boihusbil and Roger on Wheels 

Kathryn from Wandering Bird

You can follow their adventures on Instagram, Facebook or find more travel tips & advice on their award-winning travel blog Wandering-bird

DO IT
If you are considering getting out of the ‘rat-race’ and living life on your own terms, do it. Life is short and tomorrow is promised to no-one. There will never be the ‘perfect time’ and you will never feel 100% ready. But do it anyway. As soon as you can sustain yourself in whatever way you choose, then go for it. Yes, you will be scared. Yes, there will be unforeseen problems to deal with. But you will NEVER EVER regret stepping outside your comfort zone and having more adventures in your life.

Have an emergency fund
Twice in the past 18 months we’ve had essential expenses which we hadn’t budgeted for while travelling Europe with a motorhome. One was maintenance needed on our vehicle with an engine issue, but the biggest unforeseen event was when my husband flew back to the UK for a few days to work… and ended up in hospital with a severe kidney infection. I am so grateful that we worked that extra time to build up an emergency fund which allowed me to find dog-care for Mac, secure the motorhome somewhere safe, book the next flight from the nearest airport and fly back to the UK.

Learn to slow down
This has been the HARDEST thing for me… which is probably why I started a travel blog! But if the reason you want to change your lifestyle is to get a better life balance, then you need to learn to slow down. It’s ok to spend days ‘doing nothing’, lazing by the beach or curled up with a book while it pours down outside. Not every day has to be an ‘adventure’ or have something amazing happen. This whole lifestyle is an adventure in itself, so don’t burn yourself out trying to fit everything in at once. 

Sarah and Tabitha from Veedubadventures

Warning:  Full Time Family Travel Can Permanently Alter Your Perspective!

When The Motoroamers asked if I’d like to guest blog in their Life on The Road series I was excited and daunted in equal measure. Although working out how I could extract just THREE tips from an epic year on the road with Tabitha my, then, ten year old daughter felt the same as the prospect of condensing a 4 bedroom London house and life into a 6m Campervan. 

It’s NEVER too early to start
Prepare yourself, your family and your environment. Dream BIG!  The possibilities really are endless and this is the time to go hard or don’t leave home! Choose your new rolling home early, it can sometimes take a while to get a 2^nd hand vehicle mechanically sound.  There might be modifications you want to make for it to feel like home. Start thinning out possessions as early as you can, mentally if not physically at the very least.  Categorise everything you own and be ruthless.

Get the kids motivated by putting their sales cash into their own Trip Fund – Tabitha paid for her own ice-creams for the first 3 months from what she sold! And, talking of kids, getting them onboard, with what is essentially your dream, is imperative. The wheels can literally fall off if the whole gang aren’t up for the adventure. It’s a BIG upheaval for everyone, even the most intrepid explorer is not always going to love the sacrifices being made.  Much loved toys, precious teddies and best friends will all have to be left behind.

Do return to the the plan and dream regularly but don’t over egg it so everyone is fed up with hearing about it!
Do ask for their input on where to go, what to take, how to learn – even the smallest of humans can contribute here.
Don’t try to plan and control every tiny detail.
Do plan ways for maintaining friendships.
Don’t rely on technology like video calling for this.  Postcards, letters, blogs are great and if the kids are in school, get their class to track your route.  

It’s NOT all cocktails on the beach at sunset
Assuming you get lucky, the first couple of weeks up to the first month will be everything you ever dreamed it would be. The motorhome will drive like a dream, every item you couldn’t bear to leave behind will miraculously find a place, your Sat Nav will unfailing find each destination, the kids will love long driving days and emptying the toilet will be splash free and smell of roses!

Or, maybe it’ll be less utopian dream and more dystopian nightmare and you’ll wake up in a cold sweat wondering what the hell you’ve done! Hang in there! It’s going to take some adjustment moving from a house to a metal box on wheels and working out your new normal. Being together 24×7 was NOT the delight we had anticipated. So consider what I call a ‘soft landing’ to ease yourselves into it. Choose campsites if you’re not confident with free camping or using aires. Travel slowly, stop frequently, find things to do and places that interest both you and the kids. I found it took us at least a couple of days to adjust when we crossed a land border.  A new language,  potentially a new currency, certainly new foods, road signs and rules.

The end of the road
In the blink of an eye, the end of the road is suddenly in sight.  Be it one month or twelve once the end is in sight you will be astonished at how quickly the time has passed. You’ve gone from slightly terrified full time family travellers to seasoned old hands. You no longer worry about how the kids will learn without school – you’ve mastered your own family approach. Be it structured and aligned to the national curriculum or unstructured and child led you have discovered the secret: you can’t actually stop a kid, not to mention and adult, from learning. How on earth are you going to fit all that freedom and surround sound vision back into the life you had before? If you’re like us, you actually won’t…

During our time away we realised that we didn’t want to go back to a full time job or state education. I no longer wanted to work the sort of hours necessary to pay a mortgage or rent. I no longer wanted to pack Tabitha off for 8 hours a day.  More importantly Tabitha no longer wanted to be constrained by a school timetable.Finding our new normal involved me developing new income streams and us moving out of our faithful campervan and onto a narrowboat.

The ever lasting legacy of our year on the road has been the lived experience and confidence that we can pretty much make anything work. The most precious nugget of learning is that anything is possible – if you go at it slowly,  with a bit of forethought and some precision manoeuvring you can make it successfully through the smallest gap.  What a Wonderful World.

Ruth and Alan from Travel, Cook, Eat

It’s not easy to pick out our top three pieces of advice because we are all so different regarding what’s important to us. The following gems however, have been instrumental in making our travels safe, enjoyable, and immensely fulfilling and we believe they will serve any full-time motorhomer well. 

Plan your travel but don’t over-plan your travel
When embarking on a full-time life on the road it’s so important that you take time to find and setup the motorhome which will suit you, and your lifestyle.  Research other’s blogs, maybe even hire or borrow a motorhome or two, and work out what you like and don’t like. Once you have bought your pride and joy, you may need to install some larger extras such as solar panels or an inverter, so you truly have an independent home on the road. Smaller items can be picked up as you go and once you know you really want them.

Part of planning your travel is getting your finances lined up. It’s no fun being stuck in a foreign country with a broken-down motorhome and no money to fix it.  Be realistic and have enough money for your travels, plus reasonable contingencies. You will spend more than you expect, so plan for it.  Take out suitable insurance and breakdown cover. Once you are on the road, keep track of your spending and be ready to make adjustments to keep in your budget – either spend less, earn more, or change your plans.

Once your travels start however, it’s time to dial back on the planning. Be open and flexible enough to change direction or destination, or speed up, or slow down. Some of the best experiences occur when you give them the opportunity to happen.

Slow down and smell the roses
We have met people who just love driving and don’t like spending more than a single night in one place. Most of us though will have a deeper and richer experience by spending more time in less places. We suggest allowing plenty of days in each country and a loose schedule with just a few key dates, such as MOT time. This gives you more freedom to be where you want, for as long as you want. Less miles also means lower fuel bills and less wear and tear on your motorhome, yourself, and your relationship.  

Engage the locals
Your overall travel experience is comprised of what you see, what you do, what you experience and who you meet along the way. Our most cherished memories almost always include locals we have met and who have shared with us their friendship, local highlights, and culture.  Many of these locals have actually been fellow motorhomers, whom we met far from their own homes, and then invited us to visit them in their countries. They know exactly what fellow motorhomers and usually offer parking, EHU and a washing machine.  So make the effort to talk with other motorhomers, especially those from other countries.  

Engage locals in conversation, invite them in for a coffee, and you will set yourselves up for some amazing memories and new friends. When you are full-time on the road it’s great to feel you have friends and connections all over Europe. 

Ian and Jill from Search for Sites

Our top tips for travel have recently been upgraded since the availability of mobile data in mainland Europe has increased massively; that coupled with generous data packages from mobile providers. 

Get Connected!
We need reliable internet access every day to run our business, so we invested in a 4G roof mounted aerial with a Huawei 4G compatible mobile wifi router (Mifi) coupled with a Vodafone data sim which gives us an unrestricted 100gb of data for use in any of 40 destinations all for just £20 month – such a good deal we bought a second sim to use in our iPad. 

This enabled us to not only have internet access available 95+% of the time the quality and speed of a 4G connection was sufficient for use with streaming services such as BBC iPlayer, Netflix etc so no need any more for satellite TV or piles of DVD’s. This leads us on to our second tip:

Take the tablets!
Go large with your mobile device and get a Tablet!  The stress levels of finding stopovers are greatly reduced when browsing using a tablet over a mobile phone and using an app such as searchforsites where you can browse a much greater area makes it much easier to find that next must visit place.  Having a large screen is also a god send when using the tablet as a Sat Nav. 

Digital Banking
On previous trips we always used to take cash only which meant we would leave home with a great big bundle of euros – coupled with a  Nationwide credit card. This worked well for shorter holidays but would not be practical for longer term travel. After reading some good reviews we applied for a Starling Bank Account and Card and this has been a revelation coupled with its brilliant super simple banking app. Fee free banking plus free payments, free cash withdrawals all at near bank transfer rates.

So now whenever we visit a non euro country it is easy to get some local currency without getting ripped off with poor change rates. The app tracks all your spending by merchant and category and is updated the instant you make a payment. It has been so good we have now closed all our other accounts and have four Starling Accounts, two personal accounts, one joint account and a business account all run from the same simple app.

Cynthia and Stuart from Flipflops and Woolly Hats

Check out their website over at Flip-flops and Woolly Hats and their Facebook page and Instagram

Here at Flip-flops HQ, we are continually learning as we travel and live life on wheels so when Karen & Myles from Motoroaming asked us to contribute our top 3 tips, we were only too happy to contribute. The challenge would be to select the top 3 tips but we think we did it! Here goes…

Follow your Heart
No matter what your plans are, if your heart is asking you to go somewhere or do something, be flexible, do it and do it now. Now is the best time, as you may not get to the same place again or if you do, even if it is tomorrow, the place might be different. If you want to explore that lane, do it as you might not pass it on the way back. If you want to take that photo, take it as the sun might not shine tomorrow or a coach-load of tourists might be obscuring the view. If you’re thinking of filling up with fresh water, do it as the tap might be broken in the next place. The list of examples is endless but you get the idea. Following your heart will help make this lifestyle the best it can be for you as it is different for everyone. Following your heart will make your version of ‘vanlife’ authentic to you and you will enjoy it all the more for it!

Find a balance
All your time is yours now, to fill with journeys, exploring and whatever other things you enjoy doing. You may find that covering large distances in a short time may leave you feeling tired, zapped of energy or unmotivated. You may also find that staying in a single place for a longer time may leave you tired, zapped of energy or unmotivated. These opposites can have the same effect but for different reasons, so it is important you find a balance in the way you spend your time that works for you. Creating some structure to your days, continuing with your hobbies, exercise, creating (eg crafts, writing, photography etc) or even doing some work are all ways to help you find that balance and prevent you from feeling adrift on your big adventure. 

Every day is a school day
Sometimes things go wrong or are different to what we expect, maybe we have made a mistake. It can be stressful but it’s how we learn so don’t sweat it! We learn to carry the right equipment, like a multitude of watertap-connectors to deal with the myriad of different taps out there, or the right gas connectors which can differ per country. We learn that colder countries turn their taps off in winter to protect them from the frost, leaving us without water. We learn that we really should have emptied the toilet cassette at the last stop… We learn that we need a bigger coffee pot. We learn that there was a bollard at the back of that parking spot… Ouch! Things can go wrong, but they can be fixed even in a different country across a language barrier, so don’t worry if something does go wrong. It will be OK. 

Jenny and Jason 

Be inspired, not restricted
There are literally hundreds of stories like ours, and believe me, we read them and learn a lot. Sometimes that was more how not to do it though. The key piece here is while time allows for a longer and perhaps broader adventure, you don’t have to have months available to have a brilliant experience. In fact, you could do far worse than picking up 1 location or idea for your next holiday. Take our experiences and make them your own. The key is finding what works for you.

Research but it isn’t everything
By all means read the guidebooks, and pour over maps, but also read between the lines. Travel is all about finding your own way and interpretation. Some of the best places we’ve been to, are those dismissed by the guidebooks. Equally, when we decided to hit Scandinavia for our final 3 months, we did so without a map or book between us. It only cost us one unnecessary toll, but in terms of unexpected experiences, it was simply knock out. Sometimes being unprepared delivers in way you don’t expect.

When wild, think Water, Waste and Washing Wild
Free or off grid camping isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely worth a go, from a budget perspective as much as anything else. It won’t all be glamour sites either, we’ve had more than our share of car park views, but when you find your slice of heaven, they pale into the background. Just take a moment to consider your basic needs, and you will find the experience life changing.

Paul and Michele from Our Leap of Faith

When we escape away from the humdrum of ‘Real Life’ we like to travel slow and take short hops in our motorhome from Town to Town and divert to see things that sound interesting along the way. When we were asked for our top tips on how we travel, we jumped at the chance!

Never plan too much
Well almost never, how many times have you had a plan and it’s gone array? These days we try to look at what and where we will be tomorrow. All too often in the past we had grand dreams and endless list of things to see and do, mainly from well read travel guides. Then we would get side-tracked by something small and local. Never wishing to turn off the personal touch of travel, the bigger things get bumped from the list, well onto the next time list at least. So now we travel with a rough plan of what today might hold.

It’s about the journey not the destination
Who ever said travel was about getting from A to B, needs to rethink their plans. How easy would it be these days to pop in your destination into a Sat Nav and follow it, turn by turn. Go old school and by a map and pick the roads you are going to follow based on what might happen along the way. As travellers i think that the journey is probably more important than the end destination. Often you can be going down a route and then at the next turn you see a sign or a point of interest and you have to get out and explore and so your journey takes a different route.

Live like a Local
We remember well one of saddest travel memories was arriving in Spain around Christmas time.  We met an English couple, who looked amazed that we had tackled the minefield of the Spanish butcher and bought ourselves a Rib of beef for our Christmas Day lunch, whilst they had resorted to a frozen Turkey from the ex-pat Iceland shop. Although our language skills will never run to full blown conversations, we always make the effort to learn a few key phrases. And then thanks to human nature, our few local words, plus a bit of pointing and maybe a splattering of understood English words we manage to get by and hopefully improve our skills.  he same works when we fancy a beer; we actively avoid the tourist hotspots and seek out the locals’ bar, where the drinks are better and the atmosphere authentic. You should never be afraid of going local – the experience far out-weighs the fear.

Sharon from Off Nomading

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